The late afternoon sun slanted through my bedroom window, painting warm stripes across the floor. "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you were born in a different family?" Brittany, my best friend, asked, her voice muffled as she hung upside down off the edge of my bed, her hand reaching aimlessly into the air.

I glanced up from my untouched math homework, a pile of daunting equations that seemed to mock my existence. "I never really thought of it," I admitted, a curious frown on my face. "Where did that even come from? We're supposed to be doing homework."

Brittany groaned, sitting upright. With a dramatic flair, she balled up her own math sheet and hurled it towards my trash can. "Kobe!" she yelled, but the crumpled paper sailed wide, bouncing harmlessly off the wall.

I laughed, shaking my head. "You can't yell Kobe and miss, go grab your paper, we're supposed to be helping each other out with this." She grumbled but complied, heading towards the trash. As she passed my desk, her eyes landed on a single, worn notebook. Before I could react, she reached for it, curiosity getting the better of her, and flipped it open.

"Don't touch that!" I lunged forward, scrambling off the bed with an undignified thud. But it was too late. Brittany had already sat back down, eyes scanning the pages. She stopped at one in particular, a detailed drawing of something unsettling. "Jason, what is this?" Her voice had lost its playful tone, replaced by genuine concern. I tried to snatch the book, but she held it away, her expression shifting to one of confusion and then, finally, a strange kind of fear.

"You weren't supposed to see this."